They don't care
by Megaphone.Kills.You
Summary: Hinata was always labeled as worthless and weak. She would cry, she would try, but she would always fail. She doesn't know the boy's name, but his smile is giving her hope. So she tries. And without knowing, she returns the favor.
1. She doesn't care

She is weak and she knows it.

All her life she was told she was a weakling, not worth their family name, that she was like a taunting stain on a white shirt. You can try to wash it out, but no matter how hard you'll try, the stain will stay; an impurity that stands out in this sea of perfection and purity.

"Am I weak, father?" she asks after she trained with him, her voice a faint sound in the air.

"Yes, you are." he answers, his face as cold and unmoving as a stone.

And she forces a smile on her face every time he says that and promises to be better and train harder, just to disappoint him the next day.

"I'll be better!" she tells herself as she fights.

"I'll be stronger!" she tells herself as she falls down.

"I'll be worthy of my name!" she tells herself as she tries to get up.

"I won't be weak!" she whispers to herself as she gets punched by her opponent.

"I won't need help!" she shouts at herself as her teammates help her up.

"I failed again." She cries to herself when nobody is watching, when she was beaten again.

But she still tries.

Because no one expects her to, because it's her own decision, because she wants to prove to herself that she is strong.

Her face is soft, framed by her bangs, her eyes light and naïve, her body trained, yet so, so fragile, so easy to break.

And there is nothing she can do about that.

But she tries.

She has expectances to fulfill, although no one believes in her anymore. They've lost faith in her such a long time ago.

Too often she had proven herself to be a weakling, too many times had she failed.

"Why do you even bother with trying if we all already know that you are worthless?" her cousin taunts her as he walks by, a mocking smirk on his face, knowing that she will be affected by his mockery.

The girl bits her lip, her pearly eyes drifting to the side to escape his stare and twiddles her thumbs because she is nervous and scared.

Nii-san was always stronger than her, and her mind tells her to fear him, to avoid him at all costs.

Only at rare occurrences she has no choice, like these times she isn't looking where she is going.

And every time it's the same, he's questioning her, taunting her, taunting her!

She whispers "I won't disappoint you next time, I promise..." But she knows that it's all just a lie.

Her Nii-san chuckles and turns away, and she hears him say "You always say that. Stop lying to yourself, you fool."

Her bottom lip trembles but she refuses to cry in his presence, watches his retreating back, the ponytail dangling behind him.

When she doesn't see him anymore, she runs to her room, ignoring the stares she gets.

She rips open the door to her room, closing it careful behind her, though she is aware that a room won't hide her in this family.

She breaks down.

Her knees drop to the floor and her body is shaking as she crumbles down with fresh, hot tears flowing down her cheeks.

At the end of their journey the salty drops drip to the floor, making a faint noise.

Soon the air is filled with her sniffs and the dripping noise as she sobs harder and harder, despite being used to this treatment by her family.

Her hands find their way into her short blue hair, entangling themselves there and she digs her fingernails into her scalp.

The pain shoots through her head, but she doesn't care.

She's feeling sick in her stomach and she throws up, but she doesn't care.

She hears her own sister's sickening snickers outside her room, but she doesn't care.

She just doesn't care anymore.

Hours pass by and the tears dry on her cheeks, leaving wet traces on her porcelain skin, showing everybody what she was doing all this time.

Her body is sore from all the silent crying, and even though there are no more tears, she presses her face onto the cold floor, so hard that it hurts.

Eventually she falls asleep, leaving her with nightmares in which she is killed by white-eyed monsters.

The next morning follows and she knows that her father will be mad at her for skipping training.

So she avoids him and sneaks out of the giant complex of houses, doing a poor job at hiding herself.

Once she is on the busy streets, she feels even lonelier than last night.

It was absurd, to be surrounded by a crowed and to feel alone at the same time.

Those damn tears rise to her eyes again, threatening to fall and spill on the dusty ground, so she rises her hand, whipping them away.

Somebody bumps into her accidentally, so she quickly turns to the stranger and bows several times, whispering in her timid, soft and shy voice many, so many apologies.

The stranger tells her that it's alright, waves at her and resumes his way.

And suddenly she feels stupid.

What had she done wrong?

Why had she been the one apologizing?

She starts running, the sadness and anger well-hidden under her soft, calm features, and her feet hurt because she isn't wearing shoes.

The feeling while she runs is making her heart beat faster and she runs some more, but she is tripping, falling to the ground, her face hitting the earth.

A girl with pink locks offers her a hand, and she gladly accepts it, though her mind is screaming that she didn't deserve help.

"You're Hinata, right? Hinata...Hyuga? My name is Sakura Haruno." Sakura introduces herself.

Hinata just nods, feeling the heat rising to her face.

"Nice t-to meet you, S-S-Sakura..." the shy girl stutters.

"Well, I see you around, Hinata!" the other girl exclaims and waves her good bye.

Why was this girl, Sakura, nice to her? she wonders.

Why does she care?

Why?

What had she done to deserve this kindness?

The useless Hyuga heiress suppresses a sob, and walks on.

Voices are coming from every direction, and now she's the one bumping into people, always shouting back an apology, and her lungs burn, but she doesn't care.

Deep inside, she cries, she is desperate.

That's when her eyes spot a shock of golden-blond hair.

She looks closely and sees that it belongs to a boy at about her age.

Her eyes are glued to him, and she was not able to tear her eyes away from him.

Maybe it is his hair that sticks in every direction, maybe it is the weird whisker-like marks or even his orange-blue jumpsuit.

But she was sure that it was his smile that held her gaze captivated.

It was so pure, so wide and innocent, so careless, everything her smiles weren't.

He opens his eyes and she notices that they are a wonderful shade of blue, so intense that her face heats up immediately.

His face was covered in cuts and there was blood trickling down the side of his mouth. Then he speaks and he says "Well, the next time I'll beat you, Sasuke! Believe it!"

His grin grows wider and she realizes that he speaks to the boy next to him, a boy with a dark aura surrounding him. She instantly winces because he reminds her of Nii-san and Otoo-sama.

"You say that every time, dobe, and then you get beaten by me again."

Her eyes widen.

"I know! But this time I'm sure! And even if I don't, I'll try again! You know, I have this feeling in my gut..." the blonde retorts, not a hint of insecurity or disbelief.

"Maybe you're just hungry, you idiot?" his friend smirks and hits him on the head.

"Hey! ...But you're right! Let's go and eat ramen! ..."

They disappear from her sight as fast as they came but there were two things that should remain in her mind, in her heart.

The pure smile and the things he said.

He loses just like she did, again and again.

But he doesn't give up; no matter how many times he lost (judging by the black-haired's comment)

He doesn't give up.

Unlike her, who would always remain in the shadows.

She doesn't know the boy's name but she secretly wants to see him again, to see his smile.

She is weak and she knows it.

All her life she was told she was a weakling, not worth their family name, that she was like a taunting stain on a white shirt. You can try to wash it out, but no matter how hard you'll try, the stain will stay; an impurity that stands out in this sea of perfection and purity.

Maybe it is true that you can't wash out a stain.

But Hinata wasn't a stain.

So she will try again, again and again.

The boy without a name had given her hope, and every time she would cry, she would think of him.

As Hinata gets home, she is slapped in the face, and labeled as worthless once again.

But she doesn't cry today.

She doesn't care about that.


	2. He doesn't care

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

* * *

In the eyes of the village, he was a monster, a beast.

„Just look at him! He's so filthy! "

"Don't go near him! "

"He has no parents! "

"No one wants him here! "

The boy thinks the adults are stupid because they think he can't hear them, oh, but he does.

Sometimes when he's feeling more miserably than usual, he thinks they let him hear their 'opinion' just to show him how worthless he is. That thought makes him sad, yet it returns every day and it's always stuck in the back of his mind, reminding him of his pointless existence.

He walks through the streets and feels their stares on him. Whispered insults echo in his head.

Why were they doing this to him?

What had he done wrong?

The boy wonders. They were acting as if he was a mistake from the past, a child that should've never been born, something that needed to be destroyed so that they can live in peace.

He remembers what his former teacher Mizuki had said and he glares at his stomach.

The nine-tails, Kyubi-no-Kitsune, was sealed inside the vessel's body and it's scaring the villagers, leaving them mean and cold-hearted towards him.

But only him.

He turns his head and sees a little child holding onto the skirt of his mother, tears streaming down his face. The mother bends down and cradles her son into her arms, soothing him.

Jealousy rises in the watcher, bubbling inside of him like his beloved ramen that was boiling for too much time. He wanted a family too.

But nobody comes near.

A family and people that accepted him, like Iruka, was that too much to ask for?

A sweet, loving family, something he never had, nice and understanding friends is what his heart carves for, but the boy is not as stupid as everybody thinks.

That was just a dream, a silly dream that would never come true.

He knows that.

Yet he can't help but think of the image of the child and his mother.

And where was **his** mother?

When his other dream had become true, he would search for her. And everybody in the village had to acknowledge him!

He wants to become Hokage, the strongest shinobi Konoha had ever seen, so that everybody respects him and that they realize that he just wants to help.

But that's a long and hard road and the boy has barely started it.

"Ew! Look at his clothes! They're covered in blood and dirt! I bet he killed somebody! "

He doesn't care.

"Probably. This child has no heart! "

He doesn't care.

"He's a demon! "

He doesn't care.

"He doesn't deserve to life!"

He doesn't care.

"**We should get rid of him!"**

He doesn't care _anymore_.

So what if the demon itself was inside of him? The vessel had never done anything wrong, never killed a villager, not even laid a finger on them! How could they do that?

How could they do that?

Before he can think further, he spots a dot of pink in the crowd, recognizing it in a matter of seconds as his new team mate, the one he had a crush on. _The crush she didn't return_.

Excitedly he wants to greet her, but stops when he sees her helping up a girl at about their age.

He's seen her before, from the corner of his eyes, but her name was a mystery to him.

The little girl looks like she just ran away from death, her clothes torn here and there, her short blue hair uncombed and the skin under her eyes was a light red, like she'd cried.

Sakura and the strange girl exchange a few sentences before they part ways.

That is the moment he wants to talk to his teammate, but he stops, surprised, as the stranger breaks into a run though she looked like she couldn't take another step anymore.

He sees her swaying from side to side as she runs and he is amazed by her willpower.

Then she bumps into him because neither of them really realized where she was heading, and after his recovery from the shock, he hears her shouting back an apology. Something inside of him starts to bubble, but not in a uncomfortable way.

No one had ever apologized to him.

And something inside of him told him that it was an apology that was short, but from the heart.

With a shrug he resumes his walk without a direction.

Later he sees Sasuke, another teammate and they immediately start bickering, since they just completed a mission and the dark-haired boy had done a better job.

"Well, the next time I'll beat you, Sasuke! Believe it!" the blond-haired ge-nin exclaims, self-confidence dripping from every syllable.

Sasuke snorts. "You say that every time, dobe, and then you get beaten by me again."

"I know! But this time I'm sure! And even if I don't, I'll try again! You know, I have this feeling in my gut..." the blonde retorts, not a hint of insecurity or disbelief in his voice.

"Maybe you're just hungry, you idiot?" his friend smirks and hits him on the head.

"Hey! ...But you're right! Let's go and eat ramen! ..."

And eating they did, because the 'dobe' managed to drag his rival along, but all through their little spat on the street he had felt two eyes on him.

"Ah, Naruto! I somehow knew you'd be here!"

Said child turns to the voice and almost glomps his old teacher, overly happy to see him.

They have a little chat, Naruto telling him about the latest missions, Iruka telling stories of his new (and old) students and how some of them reminded him of the Kyubi-vessel.

Sasuke is forgotten, just like the girl from earlier.

It is a few weeks later, when he sees the stranger again.

This time she looks like the daughter of a royal ninja-family. Her face, her eyes, her hair, even her hands look soft, and he thinks that she looks like a pretty doll.

But dolls don't look sad; dolls have smiles on their faces.

The blonde still does not know her name, and now, though her appearance was much more neatly, Naruto realizes how sad and...broken she looks, nothing like those dolls with everlasting smiles and dead eyes.

Naruto is not sure why he watches her at the training grounds, but he stays anyway.

He winces instinctively as the kunoichi gets punched really hard in the face by a boy he knew as Kiba Inuzuka.

Her body falls down.

Seconds without any movement from her pass.

Then she heaves up herself, her arms almost buckle away under her, not ready to support her weight.

"Oi! Are you alright?" Kiba asks, not really worrying and strangely his rudeness makes Naruto angry.

"Y-Yes, Kiba-k-kun, I am...a-al-alright..."

Compared to her apology from the last time he met her, her voice was just a mere whisper, barely audible and she stuttered heavily.

The two continue their spar and the kunoichi gets beaten down several times by her opponent, until her group leader says the girl should go home and rest. The young ninja does as she is told, though something about the way she nods seems...off? It is stiff, like she forces it.

Naruto watches her from his hiding spot behind the many tree trunks and even though it's already dark, he can still make out her face, since her skin glows in the moonlight.

A strange feeling gets a grip on the boy's heart when he sees the tears streaming down her cheeks, over the cuts and bruises.

Her shoulders tremble as well as her bottom lip. A few sobs and sniffs come from her despite her obvious attempts to force them down.

"But-I don't want—to go...I w-want-to become-strong...—Sorry, Ku-renai, Kiba-kun, Shino—kun... I don't want—to be a burden... I will be better-stronger-...I won't be—weak, won't-need help... I won't fail again...—I won't fail... I will try to...I promise..."

Her sobs are getting violent and he wants to comfort her, but he doesn't dare to.

"I will try...I will try..."

By now he only sees her back anymore; her form swaying like it did that day.

"I won't give up...I won't give up..."

Then she disappears between leaves and trees.

Naruto stays in his hiding places, deep in thought.

This girl, she was...

He couldn't describe it, but the longer he thought, the more one thought repeated itself in his mind until it was stuck there.

Maybe, just maybe...

Even though their attitudes were so, so different...

Maybe, just maybe...

They were much more alike than one would think.

After this night, he would always remember two things.

Her sad, so sad crying and her words.

This girl was probably crushed under the weight of -expectancies and from what he had seen, she most likely wasn't strong enough for her family's liking.

Yet she doesn't just give up, she still does her best, even though it may not be enough.

She doesn't give up.

And he, how many times had he thought about quitting?

He didn't know the girl's name, but he secretly wants to end her pain, to wipe away her tears.

In the eyes of the village, he was a monster, a beast.

„Just look at him! He's so filthy! "

"Don't go near him! "

"He has no parents! "

"No one wants him here! "

Sometimes when he's feeling more miserably than usual, he thinks they let him hear their 'opinion' just to show him how worthless he is. That thought makes him sad, yet it returns every day and it's always stuck in the back of his mind, reminding him of his pointless existence.

Maybe there really was a demon raging inside of Naruto.

But Naruto wasn't a demon himself, and desperatley wants to be Hokage after all.

So he will try again, again and again.

The girl without a name had given him the wish to end pain and misery once and for all, and every time he would be unsure, he would think of her and her beautiful face covered in tears and wounds.

As Naruto gets home, his parents probably would have been angry at him for coming back so late, but then cradle him into their arms, because they'd missed him.

But there was nobody there.

This time, he doesn't care about that.


	3. Sequel is up!

**Dear readers,**

**this story is complete, BUT I have wrote a sequel to it.**

**It's called "They don't care: Neji's Story" **

**"They don't care: Neji's Story" includes the Chu-nin exam and a small part after Naruto has left the village and is, like the title says, NejiCentric, so you have the view of an outsider concerning Naruto and Hinata's relationship. **

**I'm not sure if it is as angsty as "They don't care", but I think you'll still like it^^**

**So for the ones who wanted some kind of sequel: feel free to read it!**

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**I want to thank the ones who reviewed this story, put it on alert or on their favorites-list.**

**Thank you all, you boosted my confidence and motivated me and I'm very grateful for that!**

**-Megaphone. Kills. You.-**


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